can someone reccomend me some good space shooters?

Jet Force Jemini

Decent II?

Get prey, pc version.

If you are looking for multiplayer,Shattered Horizon.

For the original playstation, Colony Wars 1 and 2 were great. I think they were released on PC. There are tons for the PC... star wars: rogue squadron, X-wing VS starfighter and of course the old  wing commander series. I personally like the rogue squadron series on the Gamecube. If you want a recent game, project sylpheed for the 360 is not too bad.

If your liking Freelancer, I'd suggest you try out some of the mods. There are some extremely active communities going, doing some pretty amazing stuff with the whole open world multiplayer thing.
 
Aside from that, I remember there being a game called "Darkstar One" released a couple years ago. Supposedly it was the spiritual successor to Freelancer (after the developer and Freelancer 2 got shut down), but I have no idea how it turned out. Also, check out Starlancer. I'm too young to know the right comparisons, but Id say it plays like a newer version of the X-Wing games. Also, its a prequel to Freelancer. 
 
For new games, I'm afraid the space sim genre is pretty much dead, for no apparent reason. Give me my Halo: Bridge Commander dammit!

Lol, only one post actually gave a proper response...

Try Freespace 2. It's older than Freelancer and is mission based but I'm sure you'll like it if you stick with it until you're used to the controls and stuff. It's only a few bucks on gog.com and it also has a fuckton of mods that either improve or completely change the game.

Darkstar One is okay, is has all the flaws Freelancer does sadly, perhaps more so, but I did play it to the end. Its controls won't be an issue though as it has a mouse based easy to use interface, unlike Freespace 2 which is more tuned for joystick play.

If you want multiplayer try Free Allegiance. It's an old Microsoft game that was made open source and has a good community that continues to develop it. It's not flashy but it's a really sweet multiplayer experience. It's kind of like Team Fortress in space with a RTS aspect on top. Pretty complex but with a helpful community, and to begin with you can stick to the simpler tasks like scouting areas for enemies, leaving behind temporary radar devices, finding wormholes or asteroids your team can use, etc. It's free of course.

dead space? your in space shooting

A personal favorite of mine is the X series, with the most recent being X3: Terran Conflict. It's not nearly as pick-up-and-play as Freelancer, but it has depth like a motherfucker.

Lost Planet is awesome. It takes place on this really cold, frozen planet and you pilot mechs. The controls are weird but you'll get used to them.

Space Invaders is pretty cool

I loved this genre, I think Freelancer may actually have been the pinnacle, but there are plenty of other great, similar titles, but there are also plenty of bad ones.  Here are a few of the notable ones I can remember:
 
Mission Based:  X-Wing, Tie Fighter, X-Wing Alliance (loved this), Freespace 2 (which is now open source, search for Freespace Open or Freespace SCP).
Freeform:  Darkstar One (not bad, but pretty shallow), the X series (X2 onwards look fantastic, but they are extremely involved and can be quite slow.  Probably the best space sandbox around, but you're pretty much left to make your own fun).
 
Then there's obviously EVE online, which I have virtually no experience with, but I don't think it's really a 'shooter' per se.
 
For a slightly different take on space combat, check out Nexus:  The Jupiter Incident.  That's a brilliant game and there should be more like it.  I'd call it an RTT, I guess the closest reference I could give you is "It's kinda like Dawn of War 2 but with spaceships".

"dead space? your in space shooting "

" Jet Force Jemini "

Star fox?

Have to throw in for Freespace 2. That game is just amazing. Also, TIE Fighter was amazing at the time, not sure how it holds up today, same with the Wing Commander series. I agree with the sentiment that this genre needs a reboot. I'm always looking for a good reason to dig out that old CH Flightstick.
 
If you're interested in something a little more strategy-ish, you might want to look at Homeworld. It has one of the best "space" vibes I've ever gotten from a game. I'm not really sure what that means, but everything about the presentation feels right to me. There's also Sins of a Solar Empire, but by even mentioning that game I risk summoning Jason Ocampo to this very room, and as awesome as that would be, it would be a long trip back for him.
 
Lastly, there's Solar Jetman. It's not really a space shooter, but it I'll take any chance I can get to plug that totally lovely game.
 
Also, where is Dave? He should be all over this thread?!

StarFox 64 is a pretty fun space shooter.
 
@Vinny:
Oh look!!! It's Vinny!!! Hi Vinny!!!..................................... too awesome.

" walking around my local second hand charity store looking for a pair of shoes i came across a copy of freelancer for the pc. i knew nothing of this title but i DID recall seeing posters of it when i was much younger and thought it looked pretty cool, so i paid the 2 bucks and took it home.   so i boot it up and discover its a space shooter (among other things) and found myself enthralled. now i want to play some more space shooters, so im wondering if anyone can point me in the way of some good classic titles. even if its from the dos days it doesnt matter dosbox is great for that.   thanks in advance. "

"  the Wing Commander series. "

" ok so ive just spent 5 years in gamefaqs hell before posting here and i have to say seeing swears on a forum is downright shocking to me. god how sheltered ive been "

Freespace goddamn 2. Or hell, Freespace 1 if you want to start from the beginning. They're pretty much millitary with no trade mechanics and very linear (mission-based), but SO well-done that you'll never want anything else. If i had to compare the mission structure with any game, i'd say Modern Warfare 2. That's how good it is.

well if you're looking for space shooters, the halo games would be your obvious choice. republic commando is also a great space romp if you like tactical action. or you could just wait a few year for infinity ward to eventually create call of duty: space warfare.

If you hit Freespace 2, be sure to download and install FS2 Open. It's an open source project that improves and enhances the original engine. Manages all of the settings for Freespace 2 from a handy, tabbed menu, and adds in plenty of graphical updates to make everything nice and pretty. Once you have it, you can load up a bevy of mods ranging from one based on Sci-Fi's gritty version of Battlestar Galactica (Beyond the Red Line) to...well...Wing Commander.
 
And here's more!

• Privateer Gemini Gold - Based off of the Vega Strike engine and freely distributed, it's something more of a total conversion and it's a lot of fun. I played through the original Privateer, but this one really does it justice if even it is a little rough around the edges.
• The Last Starfighter - Someone actually created the arcade game out of the movie of the same name. Getting my flightstick working with this was a little iffy, but if you're interested in trying this out for nostalgia's sake, here it is.

" @graniteoctopus: You'll need Windows Vista or Windows 7 (Which I'm guessing you don't have.) but Shattered Horizons is a good space shooter. It's on steam and it's quite cheap. ;-) "

Theres not enough games like freelancer im afraid.

@Rowr said:

" Theres not enough games like freelancer im afraid. "

Vega Strike - Home

If you're interested in something a little more strategy-ish, you might want to look at Homeworld. It has one of the best "space" vibes I've ever gotten from a game. I'm not really sure what that means, but everything about the presentation feels right to me. 

When you're not being a space merchant, Elite has some pew pew bits in it.
 
Yeah, yeah... laugh at the old guy, kids. Java version here.
 
@graniteoctopus said:

" wow so vinny, a staff member replied to my post. why the HELL am i getting all giggly over this. "

You could check out Allegiance, even if you did once ten years ago - it's updated, it's free, and it can be totally addictive if you can get over the learning curve and play some good games. If you try it on a weekday afternoon/evening or Sunday afternoon it seems to be pretty full of players. I still think a good game of Allegiance with a top-notch team is one of the best game experiences out there.